The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-01-29
Points About Pearls.

urHi trdlSluiOn, tnOupn lC Dc CnNnpe
from pleasant ailment to pure or
mcntation only. True Mark An
tony dissolved In vinegar and
swallowed pearl of fabulous val
tie (9S0,720 of our money!, but we
don't suppose that it proved bonne-
bouche for himIor that his digestion
was improved thereby. An adj
mirer, speaking of the pearls deli
cate and silvery lustre, says: at re-
lieves the eye after gazing at the
brilliancy of the diamond like the
soft brightness of the moon after
the dazzling fire of the sun" The
Iindoo poetically describes the
origin of the pearls to drops ofdew
that fall into the shells of the fish
in which they are formed. Pliny
had probably heard of this idea, for
he says: "Pearls vary according
to the quality of the dew by which
they are formed; if that be clear
they also are clear, if turbid they
are turbid; if the weather be cloudy
when the precious drop is received
into the shell the pearl will be pale
colored; if the shell has received q
full supply the pearl will be large,
but tightening may cause it to
close too suddenly, and then the
pearl will be very small; when it
thunders during the reception of
the drop, the pearl of the drop
thence willbe mere hollow shell,
of no consistency"
But truth, especially yscientifc
truth is less poetic than fiction.
Costly and lovely though they be
pearls are merely a calcerous pro-
duction--a sort of q morbid con-
erection foune in many of the class
mollusca-not necessarily IN the
oyster, therefore. The translucent
pearl is only the outcome of very
simple law-namely, that in these
animals the hard parts shall ac-
comodate themselves to the soft
The oyster loves to be easy and
renders its bed soft and cozy albeit
its sheets, tiguratively speaking,
are wet ones. BY its wonderful
mucus it provides against inequal-
ity or irritation. Let some matter
say dead embryo, cause internal
worry, or grain of sand external
annoyance, and straightway it
commences to cover over the evil
with this calcerious eXuvium, and
10 and behold! we get our pearls.
This is even better than "out of the
eater came forth meat" for as Sir
Edward Home says: "The richest
jewel in a women's crown, which
cannot be initiated by any art of
man, either in beauty or form or
brilliancy of lustre, is the aborative {
egg of an oyster cnveloped in its
nacre.. This name is the scientif-
ic name for eXuviom just spoken
of; and if the pearl be examined
by a good light througe strong
glass the concentric layers, like
those of an onion, may be seen ar
ranged around a very minute hole,
wherein the ovum, grain of sand i
etc was first deposited. :
We all know that beautiful sub |
stance so smoothly polished and ex- [
quisitly tinted which lines the shell |
and which is called mother OF {
pearl, dyed with rainbow hues and /
possessing glorious opolcscence t
which, however common it may be i
is charming to the eye. Dampier I
Ga sailor with poets mind) says
of this materials: "The inside of {
the shell is more glorious even $
than the pearl ITSELF, In struc- t
ture, nacre, or mother of pearl is {
very dence hard and finely lam I
mated, but the superficial outer q
layer is made up Of small polygon- ]
iel prisms. and is somewhat friable e
The beautiful iridescent colors it |
exhibits are not the result of. any G
inherent pigment, but are entirely t
produced by action of light on the t
lairs. Falling on these laminated i
Plate-likessurfaces it is reflected t
along paths Of different lengths, G
and thus all the prismatic colors Il
appear. The color Of gem pearls is u
in general blush or silvery white L
but they are met with a variety of :
hues, transparent, semi-transpar-
ent. opaque, blue, gray, greenish, 1
pink, brown and even black.
Mr.. Outhwaite has offered Il reso-
luton asking for information from
the Treasury Department as to the
effect of his Pacific Railroad Fund I
Bill. Perhaps he will drop the bill I
when he learns more about the op- I
Grafton of ito uTnal. Y
Mr.. Outhwaite has merely asked \
for this statement to strengthen T